Water and liquid damage to cargo and packages transported on the floor beds of trucks, van and like vehicles is a major problem. In open bed trucks, for example, such as pickup trucks, the most obvious source of potentially damaging water and the like is from rain and snow which precipitate directly into the open, unprotected bed. This is a lesser problem in more or less enclosed trucks or vans, but rain water, ground water and snow may get into such vehicles and their cargo enclosures by various means such as on the packages themselves, the clothing and shoes of loaders, in through open doors during loading and the like.
Yet another major cause of liquid contamination of packages and their contents in cargo trucks and vehicles is from leaking and broken containers in one or more of the packages themselves or from bottles, cartons, barrels or the like which may rupture, break, leak or be perforated in some manner. The entire point of this exposition is that, in conventional cargo trucks beds, once water or liquid gets into the bed in any measurable quantity, the problem of liquid contamination of the other contents of the cargo bed very often immediately or quickly occurs. This may take the form of mere packaging damage or deterioration, but often proceeds to damage, contamination or injury to contents as well.
As a solution, configuring the floor structure of these beds, as in the manner of some of the patents below listed, has been attempted to minimize these damage effects. However, this has been successful only to a limited extent. Merely configuring or corrugating a truck floor without providing drainage merely delays the damage until the liquid rises to a level to contact the packages or is thrown onto the packages by motion of the truck. If drainage openings are provided of conventional sort, they are susceptible to back passage of water from the road and the like coming up from the underside of the truck. Additionally, such drainage openings often clog.
There is yet another problem caused by liquid materials resident in the truck and vehicle cargo beds, specifically, cleaning out of the floors. To the extent that floors are configured and not effectively drained, mere configuring merely makes cleaning more difficult. In commercial package cars and cargo trucks which haul freight, it is most desirable to have a nightly cleanup which requires a minimum of effort and wherein all dust, trash and liquid can be simply hosed out of the truck bed floors, leaving the interior clean and dry.
What is desired are flooring constructions for both open bed and closed bed trucks which will meet these problems with rugged yet relatively inexpensive flooring constructions, protect the cargo from liquids which get into the truck bed from one source or another, readily permit periodic cleanout with a minimum of effort, seal out dust and rain water from underfloor or road infiltration, keep the truck's cargo space warmer and drier, and minimize package and cargo sliding and damage.